


I'll Be Right Back

by arallyingcry



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Horror, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Comedy, Eventual Romance, F/F, F/M, Final girl Katara, Horror, Hurt/Comfort, Lesbian Azula (Avatar), M/M, Multi, Slasher, Violence, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, nonbinary toph, potential blood and gore
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:20:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27726067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arallyingcry/pseuds/arallyingcry
Summary: Modern ATLA AU but make it a slasher film. Alternating POV.A student is found dead and no one knows who killed her. The police are incompetent, finding easy targets to blame for the murder, meanwhile more bodies are turning up. Katara, who finds herself in direct communication with the killer, is the only one who can figure it out, but she'll need help from her friends.A mix of horror, mystery and comedy because I watch too many 90's slasher flicks and I just really wanted to write one with the ATLA characters. Inspired by the Scream movies and other teen horror movies I grew up with.
Relationships: I'm still figuring out what ships are going to happen !!! letting it go naturally~
Comments: 5
Kudos: 16





	1. A Body Was Found

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have any ships solidified for this story, I'm a lover of all kinds of ships, so I'm very open. I was either going to let them happen naturally as I write, but I'm wondering, if there's enough readers, I could do a poll ahahaha I'm indecisive af, love being a Libra !! 
> 
> content warning: character death, death mention, lil angst, police (gross), sokka eating (less gross than cops)

_How is it 2AM already?!_ Katara sighs and shuts her laptop, thus cutting herself off from what felt like endless amounts of studying for tomorrow’s Chemistry exam. She’ll be fine… more than fine. She always does well and yet she can’t ever convince herself to relax. She pulls her long wavy hair out of the tight ponytail she generally wore while doing schoolwork; something about having it in her face while trying to solve math problems and write papers bothered her. Once standing, she performs a long, overdue stretch that’s cut short by a series of sounds from downstairs — creaking, then a loud thud, and finally, lots of jangling.

Her heart races. Both her father and Sokka are heavy sleepers, but they must have, at least, heard _**that**_ , right? She keeps still, holding her breath. No one stirs from upstairs, but there are a few more unnerving sounds from below that echo up the stairwell.

Katara grabs her android phone and searches for the nearest and heaviest object around her. In this case, it’s her half-empty glass of water (What was she going to do, throw it at the perpetrator? Probably.) With teeth grit and tense muscles primed, she tiptoes to her door, through the hall and down the stairs, stopping occasionally to listen for any movement. 

When she gets to the bottom of the stairs, she can see from the archway leading into the kitchen that the fridge is wide open. Its yellow light illuminates the once pitch black room, giving it an eerie glow. She can’t get a good enough view to see where the intruder is, or was, so she creeps closer, fist tight around that glass of water.

“Hey.”

A small yelp leaps out of Katara’s throat and she spins around.

“ _Sokka!_ Oh my God, I could have—-”

“Splashed me with a little water?” Sokka whispers back.

He dons a smug smile. He thinks he’s _so_ funny. She rolls her eyes before noticing something about him looks _off_.

“No.” Katara says, cheeks burning with embarrassment, “What are you doing? Did you … just get home? You said goodnight to me hours ago and went to your room.”

“Yeah and then I climbed out the window.” Sokka very indelicately shoves the rest of his unappetizing sandwich in his mouth.

Katara finally pinpoints what feels off about him, “Getting high with Suki again?”

She folds her arms tightly, her motherly tone setting in.

Sokka smiles at her through half-lidded eyes, then proceeds to tousle her hair while he skims past her, not needing to answer her question.

“You’re my favorite sister.” He practically hums out as he escorts himself up the stairs.

“Fine, I won’t tell Dad, but don’t think I won’t be talking to you about your behavior tomorrow.” Katara whispers sharply up at him before he can fully disappear.

He either ignores her or didn’t hear her. She waits to hear his bedroom door click shut before releasing an exhausted, yet relieved sigh.

“And you left the refrigerator door open.” Her complaint is unheard.

As she closes the fridge door, her attention involuntarily shifts towards the kitchen window just as a shadow passes by it beyond the curtains. She rubs her bare arms, now prickling with goosebumps. _It’s late, I’m tired, I’m just seeing things_ , she convinces herself and heads upstairs to finally rest.

The morning comes painfully fast, though Katara's anxiety comes in handy, keeping her alert as if there were 3 shots of espresso in her morning juice. Sokka looks surprisingly awake as well. When their father asks if they smell skunk at their disorganized breakfast table, Katara keeps her mouth shut but gives Sokka a hard stare.

When they arrive at school, Aang is the first one to greet them, practically dragging them over to their usual spot in the schoolyard— under an old oak tree that had many names and dates etched into it using various blunt tools. She's pretty sure she's the only one in the friend group who hadn't put their name into it's bark.

“Did Aang tell you?” Toph says the moment Katara and Sokka settle down on the shaded grass.

Aang and Toph are in 10th grade, Katara in 11th, and Sokka in 12th, but they all bonded despite almost never having classes together.

“Tell us what?” Sokka raises an eyebrow while he hastily chews on a snack that was supposed to be for lunch.

Katara would know since she packed it. She'd normally attempt to scold him for eating his lunch too early and then trying to beg their friends for scraps of their own, but her attention is on Aang, who looks nervous— pale even.

“Toph, I don’t think we should—”

“Someone died!” Toph exclaimed — partially excited, and partially horrified.

Katara’s eyes widen before she can fully register their words, “Excuse me, what?”

“You know, why don’t we start off the morning with a little meditation, ease into the day.” Aang pleads.

Toph bulldozes through his offer, “A student. People are saying she was _murdered_. Right here, on school grounds.”

Toph listens to a lot of podcasts, true crime ones included, and it shows.

Aang’s eyes dart around nervously, “Not so loud.”

“Everyone’s talking about it!” Toph pushes back.

Sokka’s sitting straight-backed for once, alert and listening, “Do — do you know who it was?”

Katara could tell he was cycling through all of the heart-wrenching possibilities, as was she. Losing their mother so early in life made them unfortunately aware and primed for the worst scenarios. A heavy feeling like a rock settles at the bottom of Katara’s stomach while she waits for their answer.

“Don’t know for sure, but I’ve heard some people say her name was Song, or something. They found her body in the middle of the baseball field.” Toph sounds almost nonchalant, but Katara can still tell they’re disturbed by it all.

Aang’s low, terrified voice surfaces, “I heard it was… bloody.”

Sokka dryly gulps and Katara feels a wave of nausea rush over her. Though she was in Sokka’s grade, they didn't know her personally, but loss, even if it’s a stranger, is never easy. It’s always a reminder of how precious life is, and how easy it is to be extinguished.

“So does that mean they’re canceling school today?” Katara asks.

“Nope. Just baseball.” Aang rubs the back of his bald head sheepishly.

“Of course not.” Sokka voices the group’s disappointment.

* * *

Since the news broke, Zuko hasn't been able to focus on classes at all even though barely knew Song. In fact, he wouldn’t have noticed her at all if it hadn’t been for Azula pointing her out just to _taunt_ him with some gossip she heard in the girl’s locker room — that Song had a crush on him. He never talked to her though, never even attempted. Despite being considered one of the popular kids, he doesn't really talk to anyone. Popularity was handed to him by his father’s status and his sister’s ruthless victory to the top where she is not-so-lovingly called 'Queen Bitch' of their high school.

He tries again to force himself to listen to the teacher’s lecture, but his mind falls back on Song. Truth be told, he wasn’t romantically interested in her, but still, guilt stirs in his stomach. He places his head down on his desk in annoyance, barely suppressing a groan. Ty lee, sitting in the seat beside him, taps her pen lightly on his notebook just inches away from his face.

“You okay?” She whispers.

Zuko makes a conscious effort to answer, but then doesn’t.

“Did you do last night’s homework and can I borrow it?” She asks with very little shame.

“Azula had us out late last night.” She adds when Zuko doesn’t make a move to get his homework.

Finally he shifts a pile of papers around and hands her his neatly handwritten work.

“Thanks a bunch.” Ty Lee gives him a wink before getting to work.

“You’re going to get caught one day.” Zuko murmurs and slumps into the back of his chair.

“No wayyy.” She sounds as perky as her pink ‘good vibes only’ shirt suggests.

Her nonstop cheerfulness is exhausting but in the way that he lowkey enjoys.

The first thing he notices when leaving his last class of the day is the cluster of police clogging the hallway; they allow people to pass by, but not without looming intimidatingly close. The tension between nervous students and asshole cops is palpable. He goes to turn the opposite way when a guy he didn't notice previously calls out his name. Zuko halts, then pivots. The guy is wearing a suit that’s as stiff as his expression.

“I’m Detective Feng.” He says curtly, a hand to his beard, “I’d like to have a word with you.”

Zuko can’t tell if it’s anxiety or reality, but it feels like everyone nearby is staring at him— his peers with curiosity and the lingering police with contempt.

“Sure.” He attempts a casual shrug, only it comes off awkward. There’s always this feeling of shame that hits him when he knows he’s in trouble, this time is no exception…


	2. A Text Was Sent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko's interrogation takes a turn for the worst, Sokka and Suki have a secret, the Gaang visit the new tea shop in town, and Katara gets a frightening text...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continued directly from last chapter! 
> 
> Content warnings: death mention, hints of abuse

The room Zuko’s taken to looks like it’s supposed to host faculty meetings, not murder suspects. And isn't that what he is? His heart lunges in his chest and continues to rattle once he and the detective are alone. Feng waits for him to sit before seating himself. It becomes a staring contest across the vast table until Zuko can't bear the stale silence any longer.

“Is this about…?” _Don’t act like you know her, dumbass_ , “That girl? The one that was found…” 

“It is.” Detective Feng simply answers before firing back a question as if he'd been the one waiting to talk, "Did you know her?" 

"No. I mean, not really. I saw her around. We never talked." 

Even though Zuko's tone is brimming with honesty, Feng is not convinced, "Interesting." 

The detective rifles through a file folder, pulling out a photo, which he slides very slowly across the table. Every movement Feng makes is achingly slow. It’s almost as if he enjoys the anxiety it brings. 

“Did you write this?” He asks.

Zuko cranes his neck to view the photo. It's a picture of a slightly crumpled note. The first thing he notices is that it's signed _**Zuko**_ , but it's not his handwriting. Nothing about this feels real to him as he reads the rest of the written note.   
  


_I think you're beautiful and I can't stop thinking about you._ _Meet_ _me in the baseball field at 10PM tonight if you feel the_ _same._ **\- ZUKO  
  
**

He accidentally lets out a scoff. Zuko isn't _amazing_ with his words, but he’s pretty sure he can manage a better love note than this… or at least, he _hopes_. 

“Something humorous?” Feng asks. 

“No, I didn’t write that. I don’t know who did, but it wasn’t me.” 

It doesn't hit Zuko that he may be legitimately in trouble until Feng sternly says: “It was found on the deceased.” 

Zuko’s jaw moves under the pressure of his clenched teeth and the dry swallow he takes. He pauses, but before he can say anything further, his furious father’s voice echoes from outside the room. The familiarity of his anger causes him to jump, but _for once_ , his fury isn't for him. 

A very flustered secretary leads his father into the room, but he never moves past the doorframe. 

Despite his fathers red, angry face, Feng is completely calm, “Glad you could join us, we started without you, but—” 

“Let’s go, Zuko.” Ozai doesn't bother to pay the detective any attention.

Zuko knows not to hesitate. He excuses himself with barely a glance towards Feng.

Ozai easily glides through the halls, his immense presence seemingly creating a path through the usually cramped high school hallway. All afterschool activities were cancelled; students were supposed to immediately go home, but a lot of people still linger, chatting with their friends. 

When Zuko climbs into the back seat of his dad's car, he suddenly feels like a small child again. Azula is already there, looking highly amused.

“Zuko, did you happen to _murder_ someone last night?” 

He narrows his eyes at her.

“You should have texted me, I would have helped get rid of the body. Very **amateur** of you to just leave it out—” 

Her saccharine sarcasm is cut short when their father slides into the driver’s seat, and suddenly she's a perfectly behaved, serious daughter. 

Zuko lets out a groan. 

“What did you say to him?” Ozai sounds much calmer than before, but there's a sharp edge to his voice nonetheless. 

Zuko feels trapped in his seat as the car starts moving. 

“Nothing.” 

“I should hope so.” His father's only reply is void of emotion, yet he can feel the disappointment rolling off him in waves. 

“You should know it’s illegal for them to question you without a guardian present, Zuzu.” Azula’s teasing tone returns. 

“Why do _you_ know that?” 

But Zuko’s weak clapback is made even more worthless against his father’s sharp response, “It’s common sense.” 

Zuko sinks into the car’s leather seat. His hand wrapping tightly around his iPhone. He wants to pull out his airpods to drown out the world’s noise, the usual family tension, and his own thoughts. However, his father's made it clear to him many times that it’s rude to listen to music with people around, so he refrains. His mind keeps leaping back to the note in the evidence photograph that ended up in the possession of a now dead girl. _Song...  
  
_

* * *

  
“Did you see that?” Sokka waits until Zuko and the stony-faced, suit-wearing guy disappear around the corner, but he doesn't subdue his voice, which is at its normal level of loud. A few students curiously look their way. 

“Yeah…” Suki’s brows draw together, “that’s the detective. He’s been questioning Song’s friends all day.”

“Ooo, I wonder if he did it. My instincts tell me there’s something _fishy_ about that guy.” 

Zuko and his family are relatively new to town. That, in of itself, was 'fishy' to Sokka; who in their right mind would leave a big, sleek city to live in their small inland town where everyone knows everyone and secrets are hard to keep? Especially a wealthy CEO.

“Fishy? Because of his scar?” Suki questions his description, “I don’t know, he's always looked sad and cute to me.” 

“No, it's not his scar, it's him, he's fishy! And fishy does not mean he isn’t cute. He can be cute _and_ fishy.” Sokka corrects her. 

“So you agree he’s cute?” Suki teases, biting her lip while she watches him squirm. 

“Well—I didn’t say that!” Sokka defends.

“You kind of did.” Suki pokes at his shoulder, giving him a small laugh. 

Sokka rolls his eyes. Yeah, okay, _he did_. He plunges onto the next topic, a question that's been burning his tongue since Toph delivered the tragic news this morning. 

“Are we going to talk? About last night…” 

“Oh…” Suki purses her lips together, suddenly looking grim, yet distracted.

"Outside.” She gives a gentle command. 

She takes his hand in hers, guiding him along winding halls until they’re met with fresh air and the midday sun. Usually she’d take him to the fields since it's always less densely populated there, but police tape stopped them at all entrances. Instead, she takes them to a quiet alcove. Bricks surround them, giving them the illusion of total privacy, even if they can still hear peers chatting, laughing, and shouting around them.

Suki strives to speak first but he beats her to it, “It’s kind of freaky that we were _there_.” 

“We didn’t see anything, Sokka, we have no information to give them. I think we should keep the fact that we were there to ourselves.” Suki speaks quickly, as if she's already had this conversation with him. She _has_ , but in her head. 

She's a pro at keeping a calm exterior, only she knows her heart is thudding in her chest. 

“We did see something. We saw flashlights.” Sokka insists, his hands flying everywhere as he talks, always one to emphasize with his body. 

The flashlights—that’s why they bolted in the first place. Sokka keeps wondering if he could have been able to help the girl had they stayed just a moment longer. He's been ruminating on the idea all day. He can tell by the crease between Suki's brow that she might be taking on a similar level of guilt. 

“That was hardly anything. We thought it was security. It’s not helpful and would only make us look bad. Seriously, Sokka. Promise me you won’t tell anyone? It could get really bad for us. Especially you.”

Sokka neatly asks her to clarify until he’s once again made aware of his dark skin standing out amongst the throngs of pale faces. 

Suki’s features soften, “Sorry. I’m just worried.” 

Sokka doesn’t find his reply in time before Aang’s voice pierces their private nook, louder than the rest of the background noise.

“Hey, there you are!” Aang smiled cheerfully. 

Katara was beside him, Toph trailing behind them both with their headphones on. Sokka still doesn't understand how they always hear everyone despite wearing them all the time. 

Sokka pulls on a quick smile. He thinks he's sneaky, that he's gotten away with the tension until Toph, blind yet observant as hell, cuts in with “I think we interrupted something…”

“No, no. We were just talking about … _Math_.” Sokka is highly unconvincing.

“Yeah, Sokka and I just _love_ math.” Suki winks, and Sokka knows exactly what she's doing. It's better if their friends think the tension is romantic rather than pertaining to _**murder**_. 

“Well, we wanted to know if we’re still going to check out the new tea shop downtown?” Katara asks. 

“I can’t, I have practice.” Suki sighs. “My training hall is right by there, though, I can try to come later and see if you’re still around?” 

“Sounds good. Have fun kicking ass.” Sokka leans in to give her a quick kiss on the cheek while they all collectively say their goodbyes. 

It was only until Suki was out of earshot that Sokka sighed lovingly, “She’s so cool.” 

“Maybe you should say that to her face.” Katara jabs him lightly with her elbow. 

“She _knows_ she’s cool!” Sokka declares loudly.  
  


* * *

  
When they're outside their downtown destination, Katara squeezes through the others, making sure she's the first through the door of the tea shop; her excitement winning over her usually careful manners. 

She's met with the earthy smell of tea mingled with jasmine flowers and lemon balm. She marvels at the soothing aesthetic and dim lighting. The shelves surrounding the back walls are fully stocked with tins and bags of fine tea with catchy names. Sokka's already checking out the merchandise, holding up a too-big shirt against his skinny body and then squinting at the price tag. 

"Wow, look at this place," Katara beams. 

Toph breathes in deeply, "Yep, smells like _tea_." they say, unamused. 

"It's a little boujee for me." Sokka shrugs coolly to mask that he's lowkey impressed.

Their small town was struggling, shops closing left and right, but maybe this place could thrive. It's modern, but not in a cold way, it's quite the opposite— warm and welcoming. Katara can't _wait_ to do her homework here. 

"Ohhh, they have Boba tea." Aang's interest picks up, eyes on the sweeter side of the menu.

Katara selects a table by the front windows and they all noisily take their seats, ready to talk about their day, which mostly consisted of gossip about Song's unfortunate demise. Sokka, for once, was quiet.   
  


* * *

  
Upon request, Ozai dropped Zuko off at his uncle's tea shop. He isn't entirely prepared to work after the day he's had, but he doesn't want to let his uncle down. As usual, he comes in through the back alley, the smell of the tea much more pleasant than the garbage cans right outside the back door. 

"Hey." 

"Zuko!" Iroh looks overjoyed to see him, but that's not unusual. He always makes it feel like they're meeting up after months of not seeing each other, instead of the last time he worked, which was two days ago. 

Zuko grabs his apron, affixing it to himself and smoothing his hand over the Jasmin Dragon logo. 

"You look tired. Or... upset?" Iroh hands him a cup of green tea, and takes a sip of his own.

"I'm fine." Zuko lies.

"This isn't about the girl from your school, is it? Such a terrible tragedy." Iroh looks down into his steaming cup, saddened. 

_Shit, he knows already?_

"No." Zuko lies again, this time his voice wavers as he awkwardly backs out of _that_ conversation. He'd rather not have his uncle digging anything emotional out of him. Especially when he has to work. 

Before his uncle can reply, Zuko slips out of the backroom and into the main room. His stomach immediately clenches. He's dodged having to serve his high school peers thus far, but it seems his luck just ran out. Seeing the cluster of students seated at the big table by the window spikes his already present social anxiety. He reverses until he's in the backroom once again. 

"Everything alright?" Iroh asked. 

"Uh... Do you really need me today? Maybe I can work back here with you?"

"I'm sorry, I already had one waitstaff call in sick today, I really need you." 

Zuko sighs, running a hand through his dark hair, "Alright." 

When he reemerges in a flustered rush, he bumps into a solid body.

" _Oof_." 

"Sorry." Zuko grumbles. 

"Hey, actually I was wondering about the help wanted sign— _Zuko_!?" Sokka doesn't hide his shock, it's in his raised eyebrows and parted lips. 

"Who are you?" Zuko immediately blurts out as a defense. He knows exactly who Sokka is. Too smart to be a class clown, and too funny to be a total outcast, but too obnoxious to sit with the popular kids. 

Sokka's expression twists into a deep frown. 

"Wow. Never mind, I wouldn't want to work with _you_ anyway." Sokka sharply turns away from him, returning to sit with his friends, this time with a sulking pout. 

Zuko hears his name a few times among the group and groans knowing he's the only one around to take their orders. 

He doesn't immediately go to them, he waits out the heat that settled into his cheeks. He attempts to calm his nerves by busying himself with folding the shirt someone _clearly_ unraveled and didn't quite know how to fold back into a neat square.

Time doesn't help him, though. When he approaches, he stumbles around, dropping his pen, not once, but _twice_. "Hello, I'm Zuko.... uh, I'll be your server for today." 

Katara stifled a laugh. Quiet, bad boy Zuko trying to sound cheery and friendly is just a _little_ too funny. She's never seen him look anything but moody at school, but standing here looking tense and worried, maybe he was just a little less bad than his typical image projected.

"Aren't you rich?" Toph rarely filters themself. 

"Uh... My _dad_ is." Zuko responds, though he's not sure why he needs to explain himself. 

"Can I have a small lychee boba, thanks!" Aang slices through the tension with his sunny smile and straight to the point reply, which Zuko is thankful for.

But everyone else's order blends into the background when Katara gets a text. An unknown number, letters all in caps, except for a few.

 **[ unknown ]:  
  
**ARe YOU AFRAid OF THE DARK? SONG WAS.   
  


She stares, wide-eyed, at the text for what feels like five whole minutes. 

"Katara?" Zuko's voice, no longer nervous, cut through her thoughts. Did he actually sound _concerned_? She can't tell. 

"Oh, so you know my _sister's_ name but not mine?" Sokka huffs, wishing Suki was around so he could nudge her and mouth 'fishy.' 

Zuko ignores him. 

"Yes?" Katara momentarily forgot where she was, "Oh.... Just a pot of jasmine, thank you." She isn't even sure if that's what she wanted, it was just the first thing that came to mind. 

"Sure." Zuko nods, giving a small bow as he retreats from the table. 

"You okay? You look weird." Sokka slouches over the table to observe his sister. 

"I'm great! Just got distracted, that's all." Katara isn't really sure _why_ she's lying.

She doesn't look back at her phone until they're all immersed in conversation around her; that's when she notices the letters that aren't capitalized spell 'die' backwards. One half of her wants to panic immediately while the other half struggles to rationalize. _It's probably a prank._ But if it's not, and whoever killed Song is still out there looking for more blood to spill—does that mean she's **next**? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I know I said I was still thinking about what ships this would include, but clearly there was some hints of Suki/Sokka/Zuko in there. That all happened organically but I am always lowkey thirsty for polyships sdjfklsdjflksdjf we'll see what happens. Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very bad at beginnings so excuse any awkwardness, I hope you enjoyed! I'll try updating weekly. I love to hear people's thoughts so please feel free to leave a comment :D


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